Marvel's 20th film, Ant-Man and The Wasp hits Indian screens this Friday, a week after its US release. Excerpts from a conversation with the film's director Peyton Reed follow:
How was the first Ant-Man experience for you?
It was a whirlwind. We were just sprinting, and particularly with something that has a strong comedic component, that energy is really helpful and goes a long way. This time around we have more time, and we’ve already established these characters. Now we get to see what happens next to these characters, particularly Scott Lang, who not only had the events of the first Ant-Man, but appeared in Captain America: Civil War.
How do you incorporate the Marvel Cinematic Universe into Ant-Man and The Wasp?
The first film was a deliberately smaller, more intimate film. It takes place in its own corner of the MCU. I like that about the Ant-Man universe, and in Ant-Man and The Wasp we're doubling down on that. We landed on a really fun way to find Scott and Hope at the beginning of this film, and Hank as well. It takes into account the events of Civil War. But that's about it. Otherwise the film still operates in its own corner of the MCU.
Not having to do an origin story will open things up, right?
That’s always the trick, and in the first Ant-Man there was so much to set up. We had to set up the mythology of Hank Pym and the powers of Ant-Man; Scott Lang and how he comes upon the Ant-Man technology; establish that he controls ants too, that it’s not just the shrinking; and so on. In this one, we were free to start a scene where ants are doing something particular and let the audience discover what ants do in this universe. We don’t have to spend time setting that up. So we can hit the ground running in this film.
Are you introducing any new elements to the story?
Yes, we are, and to some of the other characters like Luis too. Now that he’s had a taste of being a hero, what does that mean for him two years down the line? Also, this film operates more on a street level. It again takes place in San Francisco, and we really want to feel the city even more than we did in the first film. The crime element is still part of the film as well.
Is there still a strong family theme in this one?
The family dynamics are crucial to what the Ant-Man films are, in my mind. In the first film, Scott’s whole goal is to just be a better father to his daughter. That definitely continues in this film. He's out of prison now, and he just wants to get on a straight and narrow path and be there for his kid. Like we ask ourselves in our normal lives, how do you find balance between your personal life and your work? That seems like a really relatable dynamic for him, and it’s a big part of who he is.
What about Hank and Hope’s relationship?
In the first film Hope is clearly the more qualified person to put on the suit. But she’s not allowed to until the very end when Hank reveals that he and Hope’s mother at one point were working on this Wasp suit. And now they’re going to work on it together. So in Ant-Man and The Wasp you have Hope van Dyne who finally has this thing that she’s wanted for so long. You’ll find at the beginning of the film that she is a very different Hope than you saw in the first film.
How do you keep the new tricks and effects fresh?
We have a lot of tricks in this that the audiences haven’t seen before. Civil War just scratched the surface in terms of Giant-Man powers, and in this film they have made advances on the suit. You will see Ant-Man-size action and giant-size action.
You may see a lot of different size action in between. And then you have the Wasp. She’s someone who we’ve never seen in action on screen, and that’s been great in terms of figuring out how she moves, how she fights, how she flies, and the choreography of all of that, and just her character as a hero. Then the idea of seeing these two fight in tandem together was interesting. We scratched the surface of the quantum realm in the first film, and now we’re going to explore that more in this.
Are you still going to play with scale a lot?
Absolutely. I love the Ant-Man universe because it’s not taking place in outer space or in Asgard. It’s the real mundane, boring, normal world, but we get to experience it from these weird, radically different perspectives. That’s what’s really fun about it. There’s something childlike about the Ant-Man power because it puts you down on the floor where kids play with action figures.
Do you reference specific comic book stories in this film?
No, this film is not specifically based on any specific issue or run of issues in the comics realm. Instead, we take a lot of the elements that we’ve already established. There are some characters that will appear in the film for the first time that are directly from the comics and that have not appeared in the MCU.
Will we see familiar faces?
Absolutely. All the faces from the first film are coming back, but then we’re introducing at least a couple of new characters into the world that will be very familiar to the Marvel comics faithful. You’re going to meet a character who Marvel comics fans will certainly know from Hank Pym’s past and from the Avengers’ past: Bill Foster. Then you’re going to be introduced to another character called Ghost that may or may not be familiar to a lot of Marvel fans. But, it’s a character that enters the film in a very different way than in the comic universe. And this character creates some really serious issues for all of our heroes.
Is humor still a big part of the franchise?
Humor is a big part of the Ant-Man universe and will continue to be. It’s going to be every bit as funny as the first film and, in fact, even more so.
What can audiences look forward to in this one?
There are a lot of things that excite me about Ant-Man and The Wasp. But I think the biggest is to see The Wasp herself; to see Hope van Dyne as a fully formed hero in this film. She’s the first female hero in the title of a Marvel film, after all.